Blog
It Was 20 Years Ago Today, the Night Watchmen Released “Lost in California”
Who were the Night Watchmen? Some of you reading will know but most of you won’t. This story is about the band I formed in San Francisco in 2001, and the dark, vaudeville, jazz, blues, and punk-infused music we made together. Our costumes, backstage chaos, circus...
The River, the Railroad Bridge, and the Man with a Knife
The air was so cold that it felt like my lungs would crack when I breathed. We were rushing from the car into the street. Four white-trash, teenage punks on a Friday night rampage. Out onto the icy blacktop of our Central Minnesotan wasteland. Into the freedom of...
A Waterman’s Homecoming and Near Death in Nosara
It had been years since I paddled out. When I stepped out onto the beach in Nosara, Costa Rica, there were lines upon lines of gorgeous, glassy waves. Shimmering, blue, and peeling both to the left and right. I felt like a little boy getting ready to open birthday...
They Called Me Indiana Jones on the Black Sea and Han Solo in a Midwest Multiplex
There are two times in my life when I had the honor and privilege to be compared to heroic, cinematic characters played by Harrison Ford. The first time was when I was dancing under the moonlight with a family of Turks at a party of belly dancers on a veranda...
When you’re quiet, you can hear the sounds of the world become a symphony.
Spending time in quiet places is very important for mental health. What's amazing is that when you are quiet, you notice how much music there is everywhere. As a musician, I know the difference between composing a song and the sounds all around me, but the longer I'm...
How I Became an American Ghost in the Czech Highlands
On my final day living in the Czech Highlands, yellow light from the train station hovered over the snow falling on the tracks. It was a cold December night, and my friends had kept me out drinking until the last train left Havlíčkův Brod at midnight. I found a car...
Put Down the Phone and Turn Off Your Screens
How to take breaks from media, messaging, and the digital world This morning, I woke up, put on my robe, climbed slowly down the stairs, had my vitamins, and put a pot of coffee on. I did the dishes from the night before, cleaned the kitchen, prepared a cup of...
I believe that the best way to create is to let truth dance with myth.
The best creations come from the swirling dance between our personal stories and our mythological fantasies. We're all Dorothy in Oz, Frodo going to Mordor, and Luke Skywalker facing his father in the books we write, the movies we make, and everything we produce....
Tedium – The Bartendress in the Center of Nowhere
Numbed and on edge after surviving the drive through a night of torrential rain, with lightning piercing through the dark like a strobe light in a throbbing dance club, Jarette had arrived in Middlegate, Nevada. A speck in the center of nowhere. My mind feels like...
Your life is a fascinating and heroic adventure.
It's 2023! What adventures do you have planned? What projects do you plan to produce? What creations are you going to unveil to the world? Every single person on the planet earth is the hero in their own story. Your life is an adventure completely unique to you. No...